The invention relates to an apparatus for driving moveable separating elements.
Glass walls or wooden walls, slotted links, doors or shutters are frequently used to separate or form rooms or to close off room or window openings, and these are referred to in the following text as separating elements which are permanently installed or are attached to drive assemblies which can be moved along a guide rail and, if required, are mounted such that they can rotate and/or can be stacked.
[1], DE 29 10 185 A1, discloses a drive apparatus for a separating element, in which a drive assembly which is used to support the separating element and is guided in a mounting apparatus or on a guide rail is connected to an electric motor which is aligned within and along the guide rail and engages by means of a transmission with a gearwheel in a toothed rod profile, preferably a toothed belt, which is provided in the guide rail. The transmission is connected to an angled piece which is provided with supporting rollers on both sides and is connected to the separating element. The separating element which is described in [1] and which is supported only by a larger drive assembly formed by the angled piece and supporting rollers can be moved only along a straight line, thus ensuring that the gearwheel and the toothed rod profile are always engaged with one another. The described drive apparatus is therefore not suitable for separating elements which can be rotated and which, if required, can be parked.
[2], EP 0 957 208 A1, discloses a drive apparatus in which an electric motor which is connected to the drive assembly is likewise arranged within the guide rail that is used to support the drive assemblies. In this drive apparatus, an electric motor which drives the supporting rollers of the drive assembly is associated via a transmission with a drive assembly for a separating element. On the one hand, this results in a drive based on the power-transmitting connection between the supporting rollers and running surfaces which are provided within the guide rail, for which reason relatively rapid wear of the supporting rollers must be expected, possibly as well as disturbing slip phenomena. Furthermore, particularly due to the transmission that is required to drive the supporting rollers, result relatively large dimensions of the drive apparatus and the guide rail that is used. Furthermore, in the case of the apparatus in [2], it should be noted that a drive shaft in each case having two supporting rollers is driven, which are guided on running surfaces that are separate from one another, thus possibly resulting in undesirable restrictions to the applicability of the apparatus. For example, it is virtually impossible to park the separating elements which are provided with the drive apparatus as disclosed in [2].
Owing to the described problems, the electric motor for the drive apparatus in various more recent developments has been arranged away from the guide rail.
[3], WO 97/42388, discloses a drive apparatus in which a drive assembly is connected to a leading or lagging holder which has its own supporting roller and holds the electric motor at the side and underneath the guide rail such that a gearwheel which is driven by the electric motor can engage from underneath in a toothed belt which is provided in a groove in the guide rail. A relatively large amount of space must therefore be kept free alongside the guide rail for this drive apparatus, and this is often impossible. A cover may need to be provided in order to prevent the electric motor having a disturbing visual effect. According to [4], CH 692 052 A5, the electric motor for this drive apparatus can preferably be mounted such that it can be moved in order to ensure easy, disturbance-free movement of the separating elements on curves or bends in the guide rail, as well.
[5], EP 0 953 706 A1, describes a sliding stacking wall, which has also been developed by the same applicant, in which, as shown in FIG. 1 below, each of the wall or separating elements 3 is bounded at its upper edge close to the ceiling by a horizontally running supporting profile 2, which is connected to two drive assemblies 100a, 100b which are guided in a guide rail 1. Each of the separating elements 3 has its own drive apparatus 70, which is provided with an electric motor 71 and is arranged within the supporting profile 2, and which (possibly via a transmission 72 which is arranged within the motor housing, an angle transmission 73 and a drive shaft 76) drives a gearwheel 125 which engages in a toothed belt 24 that is arranged within the guide rail 1. Arranging the electric motor 71 parallel to the longitudinal axis of the supporting profile 2 results in the guidance and drive apparatus having a compact configuration without any need to significantly enlarge the cross-sectional area of the supporting profile 2 which, for example, is intended to hold a glass pane.
The attachment of the drive apparatus to the separating element in the case of the solution described in [5] thus requires a correspondingly designed supporting profile 2. Apparatuses for point attachment of elements which can be moved and, possibly, which can be rotated; for example glass panes, metal plates or wooden panels—as are described in [6], WO 98/59140, therefore cannot be used in conjunction with the solution in [5].